A little help from her friends

One of Aling Melinda’s crab stalls in Occidental Mindoro with BPI Banko manager, Laiza Jayne Perino.

Crabs are Melinda Dilag Belinario’s means of livelihood, but it is the opposite of crab mentality that has allowed her to prosper in the business.

She only had ₱10,000 in capital in 2006 when she decided to start selling crabs at a public market in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. For 11 years, she worked hard, thankful that she had a source of income even though she was restless and dreamed of something bigger.

Sometime in 2017, a fellow seafood vendor told her about BPI Banko and suggested she try applying for a loan. Aling Melinda was apprehensive – her business was, after all, very small. Interest rates may be too high especially since she did not have any collateral to offer. She was worried she might not be able to produce the documents needed for her loan application.

But Aling Melinda was in for a surprise. She learned that BPI Banko, BPI’s microfinance arm, provides loans to self-employed micro-entrepreneurs. BPI Banko representatives took notice of her good, marketable products as well as her capacity and eagerness to expand. She obtained an initial loan of ₱100,000 at friendly interest rates; she used this immediately to open another store.

The returns were brisk. In the next three years, she was able to avail herself of three more loans ranging between ₱100,000 and ₱150,000. She used the proceeds to open other stalls in Occidental Mindoro as well as a grocery store.

Over the years, Aling Melinda’s business thrived, not only because of the funds made available to her, but because of the support and encouragement she got from BPI Banko. “They give me advice on how to use the loans for the business and make smart investments,” she says. “I value all their input because they help me become a more discerning entrepreneur.”

Aling Melinda is one of some 277,000 other small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Ayala network.

Melinda Dila Belinario’s crab farm.

Aling Melinda’s grocery store.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are an increasingly significant contributor to economic growth in the country. They account for some 99.5 percent of the total number of Philippine businesses today. They corner about 60 percent of total annual revenues of Philippine businesses and contribute about 35 percent of the country’s total gross domestic product. MSMEs employ 63 percent of working Filipinos.

For the Ayala network of SMEs, inclusivity and support are common themes.

“We want to help achieve a shared prosperity. Ayala has always believed that true success is inclusive and benefits many businesses beyond our own companies within the group,” says Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Chairman and CEO.

“We believe that success must ripple throughout entire ecosystems, to eventually create and help accelerate the growth of other entities like self-employed micro-entrepreneurs.”

Aside from being her financial advisers, BPI Banko professionals have become Aling Melinda’s personal coaches. They tell her, for instance, not to get disheartened when some challenges come her way.

For example, when her crabs die in transit to Manila, she now finds it easier to recover the loss. When people fail to pay her back after she lent them money out of the goodness of her heart, she now is more discerning on whom to trust. She is able to handle her money better.

“Charge them to experience, that’s what they tell me,” she says. They are patient with her questions, helpful with their advice – and most of all, they themselves are long-standing customers of her crab business.

“My daughter is in college studying accounting, and she helps me in the business with the things she has learned in school. My sons drive me around and help me manage my stores.”

“I am very thankful to BPI Banko for its trust and support. I was able to provide a better life for my family. I learned that you can achieve anything you want if you are determined and if you have people around you to make your load lighter and pull you up.”

Pleasant surprises from unexpected turns

Leah conducts free blood pressure monitoring to a walk in customer.

Leah Clara Maquiraya Yabis used to believe she had everything figured out.

After obtaining her BS Pharmacy degree from the University of Santo Tomas and passing her Pharmacy Licensure Examination, she worked for six months as a pharmacist at St. Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao City. She then worked part time as an instructor for St. Paul University Philippines while taking up her Master in Public Health from Cagayan State University. She quickly rose from the ranks and became program coordinator for the SPUP College of Pharmacy.

When she had amassed all this experience in the academe, she went to the United States, spending a year working on obtaining her Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Certificate so that she could work there as a pharmacist. And then she returned to the Philippines to process her US work visa.

It was while waiting for her visa that she worked with Engr. Ben C. Monteiro and helped him open three of his first Generika Drugstores.

Just before returning to the US, Leah re-evaluated her plans, pondering her future. And then she surprised even herself when she decided to take a different route.

“I was all set on working in the US, but being exposed to Generika changed my view,” Leah says. “When I was helping Sir Ben set up his own Generika Drugstores, I saw that pharmacy was not just another job or a way of earning money. With it, I could really make a difference and help other people.”

Leah used her and her husband’s savings, money they received as wedding gifts, money from a property in Tuguegarao which she had sold, and a friendly loan from Engr. Monteiro – who not only became her mentor but her godfather in marriage. With the encouragement from her parents and siblings, she opened her first Generika franchise in Talipapa, Novaliches in April 2012.

But funding, she learned, was not her greatest challenge. Leah knew that educational attainment and professional experience did not guarantee entrepreneurial success. She was thankful for the system and support that Generika offered its franchisees: there was a central commissary, the movement of products was easy to monitor, there was a retail expert point of sale system ready to assist her when she needed help, and control systems were in place.

Leah with her Generika Talipapa Novaliches team.

Leah’s Generika Drugstores offer an Adult Care Program which provides health counseling and medication review for elderly customers.

Leah is one of the 277,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Ayala network. In the Philippines, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) account for some 99.5 percent of the total number of Philippine businesses. They corner about 60 percent of total annual revenues and contribute about 35 percent of the country’s total gross domestic product. MSMEs employ 63 percent of working Filipinos.

All this economic activity aims to include as many players as possible.

“Our role is to help achieve a shared prosperity. Ayala has always believed that true success is inclusive and benefits many businesses beyond our own companies within the group,” says Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Chairman and CEO.

“We believe that success must ripple throughout entire ecosystems, to eventually create and help accelerate the growth of other entities like self-employed micro-entrepreneurs.”

In four years, Leah has opened five stores – Talipapa, North Fairview, Krus na Ligas, Bagbag and Pulilan – and has reached out to more people in these communities. Most of Generika’s customers come from low-income families, and Leah takes comfort in the fact that her Generika stores provide free healthcare services such as consultations, blood pressure and wellness advise, including blood sugar monitoring and body fat analysis services for an affordable fee.

“Beyond the revenue, it’s being able to serve the community,” Leah says. “It’s not really about chasing the money, but being of service to those who need you.”

These days, Leah likes telling people about Generika and even encouraging others to open their own stores. She is thankful that she found a stable corporate partner in Ayala who shares her goals of helping others while also improving her capability as an entrepreneur.

“Everything is about collaboration,” she says.

“Nothing comes easy, you need to work hard, create an enabled team because you can’t do it alone, work on the relationship and be worthy of the partnership.”

Where she is now may not be where she had envisioned herself to be ten years ago. Indeed, there have been many surprises along the way. Deep in her heart, however, Leah knows she made the right decision in staying in the Philippines. Now she is building a life here with her husband and two children.

Partnership with Ayala has changed her, and Leah makes sure she pays it forward by being, herself, an agent of change.